Clinic opens to honor late comedian Bernie Mac

CHICAGO (AP) — A clinic to treat the lung disease sarcoidosis has opened in Chicago in honor of the late comedian Bernie Mac.

The Bernie Mac Star Sarcoidosis Clinic opened Friday at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The Chicago native died in 2008 from the disease. Friday would have been Mac’s birthday. His widow, Rhonda McCullough, says the clinic has been a “long time coming” and took “a lot of sweat and tears.” McCullough also is president of the Bernie Mac Foundation.

Mac was diagnosed with the disease in 1983 and McCullough says he always hoped to find a cure. She says she hopes that happens with the clinic.

Mac had a Hollywood career as a movie actor and standup comedian. He starred in “Ocean’s Eleven” and the sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show.”